Meeting Recap 01/28/10
by lou on 06/02/10 at 7:21 am
BULLETIN FOR MEETING OF 1/28/10
1The 11:30 club is a House of Friendship and Sharing. A warm and cozy place of conversation. The development of our Rotary Family is abundantly clear as we join in force for this most pleasant task. Those in attendance this last Thursday in January of 2010 were: Roger Anderson, Charles Small, Ted Marsella, Dave Reuland, Jerry Dale, Scott Shewan, Paul Chin and his guest Cindy, The Right Honorable Lou Smaldino, Sir Nick Smaldino, Tom Graves, Janet Powell (the soon-to-be), Stan Whaley, Kevin Oflazian, Charlie Wadhams and Katie Siemens. You see folks this is the ever pleasant place where “everyone knows your name.” Now if only someone would bring into the club a “mailman.”
Sir Nick Smaldino is going to be taking a few select Rotarians on a wine tasting tour of four wineries in the Paso Robles Area. It will be in May but Sir Nick is not sure about the date of this tour. You see Deborah McHenry is adamant (No No No! Bill Stevens it does not mean “a very hard native crystalline carbon”) about not conflicting with the District Conference. The District Conference is May 14, 15 and 16.
At the head table were Don Henderson, Roger Anderson and Patti O’Neill and of course our esteemed Program.
The Invocation was eloquently given by Terry Huntsman, the pledge of allegiance was led by Scott Lowe / side note: Sean Borchardt’s son, Luke, was with him and as we recited the pledge Luke stood at attention with his hand over his heart and didn’t miss a word - you should have seen it - it made this humble reporter proud. And Mark Smith introduced the visiting Rotarians and guests.
Travelers were: Paul Gibson, Costa Rica his gift to The Pres was (oh darn); Chip Putnam, attended a Rail Road Convention somewhere either in the U.S.A. or elsewhere in the world as he was also in Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands and I assume a few airports as well. Speaking of well, Chip brought back a pair of Boobies In Action. Hey I don’t make these things up I just report what I hear, or maybe it’s what I want to hear.
Bernadette Hansen announced the need for us to help with the ARC Bowling on February 6th and March 6th. The sign-up sheet went around and many were eager to help Bernadette.
Our Rotarian of the day was Jim Snell. His favorite thing about Rotary is the conversation. So, Father Jim come on over to the 11:30 club. His first job was being a janitor at the church and when asked, “where?” some lovable bloke said, “The Vatican.” Actually it was in Kansas City. His worst job was being a janitor for the school district where at the tender age of 15 this Loyal Servant whom we have all come to know and love was scraping Asbestos Tile off the ceiling without wearing a mask. Now why would he want to wear a mask? Maybe because he is so easily recognized. Father Snell graduated from The University of California in Berkeley. And his favorite job is tending the Flock at St. Columba’s Church.
Mark Smith won the raffle. This was with very little fanfare - Ho Hum.
The ever lovely Patti O’Neill introduced our speaker for the day, Nathan Magsig with the Coalition for Urban Renewal Excellence - CURE. Nathan is a guest lecturer at Fresno State, involved with the Boys and Girls Club, The Salvation Army and The Rescue Mission as well as being a Clovis City Councilman. In 2002 Nathan was working for the State Legislature when he got involved with The Habitat for Humanity. The Housing Authority, Habitat for Humanity, CURE and a total of 80 organizations work together to provide housing for low and moderate income families – Total family earnings are < (Bill Stevens, that means less than or equal to) $42,000 per year for a family of four. This home remodel or construction is done either by a complete make- over of an existing house or from the ground up. There have been 70 + homes made available in the Fresno/ Madera Area in the last ten years. There are currently 89 lots in Fresno ready for action. CURE is a 501 3© corporation and they have established the Neighborhood Stabilization Program that allows these homes to go from “bad homes” to “good homes” in as little as 45 days. These homes vary in size from 1200 square feet to 2000 square feet in size and made affordable for these low to moderate income families by a lot of donated time and material. The thought is that by using quality appliances and other material the new home owner will have a worry free home for the duration of the mortgage. CURE is funded by Banks and Insurance Companies. Wells Fargo was singled out as a major donor for this noble cause.
Well that is another marvelous day in the can, so I must bid you Bon Au Revoir. Ok, ok, Bill Stevens, I know that is difficult for you so here it is: Bon Au Revoir is Norwegian for Good Bye. Sorry, Skip Carlstrom, I couldn’t help myself.
Thank you to those who have answered the call to be future Scribes - the unseen benefits are “enormous.” There I go with the big word again. Bill that means: extraordinarily large in size or amount of degree.
So, l’adieu mes amis. (Another of Norway’s famous sayings: farewell my friends)
Just remember to not dismiss as nonsense that which makes no sense, but rather listen and learn so that it might make some sense – that’s common sense.
Terry Jon
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